Technical Field
The present invention relates to initializing an automated meter reading device, and more particularly to automatically providing an initial meter value to the automated meter reading device.
Discussion of the Related Art
The “background” description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work described herein, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description which may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly or implicitly admitted as prior art.
A customer's consumption of electricity, gas, and/or water is measured by meters which have been installed at the customer's house. For example, the electricity meter measures the amount of electricity (i.e., power) used by the household and the consumption of electric power is indicated by readings on an electricity meter. Similarly, a gas meter measures the amount of gas used by the customer and the consumption of gas is indicated by readings on a gas meter. To bill the customer, the corresponding utility requires two values: an initial meter value on the index of the meter and a usage amount measured since initialization, so that the measured usage amount may be added to the initial meter value.
To reduce costs and enhance billing efficiency and accuracy, many utility companies are investigating and implementing automated meter reading capabilities that automatically report a meter value to a remote location (e.g., a remote utility facility). For example, background automated meter reading solutions sense the current meter reading by physically coupling a sensing device to the rotation of the display dials, magnetically coupling the sensing device to the meter, or electrically coupling the sensing device to an LCD or other type of display.
However, in order for a conventional automated meter reading device to be initialized and an initial meter value to be determined, for example upon installation, a field technician may manually read the initial value of the meter and input this value to the automated meter reading device. This is a slow and error-prone process, as the value reading often includes interpreting a series of dials, each of which has a hand that points to a corresponding digit. Furthermore, the movement direction of the dials may vary between clockwise and counter-clockwise directions of rotation. For example, the dials may alternate between:                1. Digits 0 through 9, with 0 at the top, and the digits proceeding around the dial in a clock-wise fashion. The “value” of the dial increases as the hand rotates in the same direction as an analog clock; and        2. Digits 0 through 9, with 0 at the top, and the digits proceeding around the dial in a counter-clock-wise fashion. The “value” of the dial increases as the hand rotates in the opposite direction of an analog clock.        
As such, an erroneous initial meter value reading is possible when such a reading is manually entered by a field technician. An incorrectly entered initial reading may prevent the utility company from accurately billing the customer, leading to billing disputes and customer dissatisfaction.